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Steelers Get Value In Free Agency

He broke down the 82-yard run for reporters, one that resulted in his first touchdown since high school. He accepted a congratulatory handshake from Steelers' president Art Rooney II.

Linebacker Keyaron Fox, the man of the moment last Sunday afternoon, showed why he is such a valuable Steelers reserve in their 27-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

In a larger sense, Fox serves as an affirmation of the Steelers' team-building philosophy.

In the spring of 2008, the Steelers stayed out of the annual shopping spree that commences at the start of the free-agent signing period. Instead of targeting big-ticket free agents, they quietly signed Fox, center Justin Hartwig and running back Mewelde Moore.

To say the Steelers have gotten their money's worth - they spent less than $10 million total on the three players - would be an understatement.

The Steelers somehow build their great teams in the simplest of ways (most of the time): draft your core players through the draft and pick up the supporting cast in FA. They've done it for years and IMHO they are one of the best of doing that in the NFL. Since the NFL is a "copy cat league", I'm surprised to see that other NFL organizations don't adopt this strategy. Kudos to the scouts and Kevin Colbert for doing a hell of a job throughout the years.

The Steelers somehow build their great teams in the simplest of ways (most of the time): draft your core players through the draft and pick up the supporting cast in FA. They've done it for years and IMHO they are one of the best of doing that in the NFL. Since the NFL is a "copy cat league", I'm surprised to see that other NFL organizations don't adopt this strategy. Kudos to the scouts and Kevin Colbert for doing a hell of a job throughout the years.

Because franchises/fans these days want high-profile players/signings (regardless of who/why/what) - the Steelers tend to stay away from such acquisitions. All that matters is who wins the Superbowl that year, not how flashy/entertaining the franchise is. The Steelers draft their core talent, and surround/support them with financially, and physically sound players. If the player performs well and deserves a high-profile contract, the Steelers have recently shown that it will be worked out. The Steelers' organization is deemed "conservative" in this nature, although they have "high-priced" talent. Hell I'm glad only a few other teams have caught on, let the rest bury themselves in their high-profile acquisitions (Haynesworth, Owens, R. Williams, Houshmandzadeh, Cassel, Coles, Galloway, Holt, etc...)

I like how PITT builds their teams
thru the draft, and add some complementary players thru F/A.
They don't spend a ton of money getting players that sometimes don't pan out (TO, Haynesworth, etc...)
Get good palyers in the draft, keep the ones that are very good or fit your team's style, let the good but headache players go (Burress, BTW, how's that jail cell??? LOL)
let the good but aging players go before they are getting paid too much for declining skills, (Fanaca, Porter)
Don't get em wrong I like both Fanaca and peazy, but Pitt had some players ready (and kind of ready) to step in and take their place. Kemoautu played ok last year and appears to be much better this year, Harrison is a Def. POY and could be again this year.
F/A might come into play next year with a new kicker and some other key players.